NOT YOUR KEYS NOT YOUR BITCOIN
Protecting your Bitcoin is of vital importance. Bitcoin wallets enable you to be your own bank by self-custody of your Bitcoin. Online wallets are also known as Hot wallets as they are more susceptible to being hacked. The consensus in the Bitcoin echo system is to store Bitcoin in a hardware (Cold storage) wallet as this offline option is the safest.
For long term Bitcoin storage, you need to purchase a hardware wallet and follow all the steps readily available on video to secure your Bitcoin. Make sure to take the steps to set them up extremely seriously lest you lock yourself out from your life changing investment.
COLD STORAGE HARDWARE WALLETS
These are physical devices that are specifically designed and produced to secure Cryptocurrency. There are several companies that are leaders in this sector and are trusted by millions of Bitcoin Diamond Hands.
Ledger was the industry leader until they were hacked. The hack exposed customer’s information in regards to mailing lists but this eroded trust and confidence in the brand. This left their customers very vulnerable as even a physical attack at their shipping address was a possibility with the company taking no responsibility in case of such.
Regardless of an aggressive public relations campaign and promising to do better, it is prudent to simply utilize other manufacturers who have not experienced hacks of that magnitude. In line with this, it is not featured in this list and as there are very good manufacturers on this list I would urge you to steer clear of them.
TREZOR
The Trezor Model T and Trezor One (White) are not only stylish but an advanced hardware wallet to store your Bitcoin. The Trezor Ultimate Pac is a bundle that is put together with crisis scenarios in mind thus maximum protection from leading experts.
With multiple accessories such as Cyptosteel cassette to store your recovery seeds and silicon cases with numerous colors, this is a worthwhile investment in your future.
COLD CARD WALLET
This is an ultra-secure, air gapped open source hardware wallet for Bitcoin made in Canada. It features a 128*64-pixel OLED screen with a full sized numeric keypad that makes entering the pin easy.
OPENDIME
A small read only USB stick allowing anyone to spend their Bitcoin like fiat currency. It contains a QR image and text files inside containing a Bitcoin address and helpful information. You can check your balance anytime to spend online.
The latest edition is a stealthy 32GB flash drive in plain green with all the outside references to Bitcoin removed and comes in a new shape.
BC VAULT
This company guarantees security to the extent each BC Vault is shipped with 1.0 Bitcoin loaded, if you break the encryption it is yours. It gives you the ability to store more than 2000 different anonymous wallets, each encrypted with a different passcode and pin.
COBO VAULT
This hardware wallet comes with a proprietary bank grade EAL 5+ secure element. It allows you to see how private keys are derived from physically generated entropy (TRNG). Their 3rd party code audit report is open, the first ever made public by a hardware wallet company.
ONLINE A.K.A HOT WALLETS
Online Bitcoin wallets are referred to as such not in today’s conventional slung sense of the word but as an actual danger sign due to their extremely high probability of being hacked as opposed to cold storage. The best practice in the Bitcoin echo system is to Hodl long term on your cold storage hardware wallet.
There are various online wallets available. Always remember to make sure your devices security is top notch with all the necessary updates as outlined in the “Security while handling Bitcoin.”
Some online wallets are considered superior to others as they keep your privacy as the 1st priority. The ones that do so are the pride and joy of the N0-KYC Bitcoin community and will be featured in the “NO-KYC” to enable you become self-sovereign in hours. The first one in this list is a great example of this.
ONLINE WALLETS INCLUDE:
Wasabi
The Wasabi wallet is an open source non-custodial privacy focused Bitcoin wallet for your desktop that implements trustless CoinJoin combines coins to make it extremely difficult to determine where a particular coin was sent to and who from. It is available for Mac, Windows and Linux furthermore it is integrated to Tor.
Muun
Muun is a self-custody Bitcoin wallet. Available on both Apple store and Google Play store. It is a life saver when it comes to fees and fast as through the lightning network you can send and receive Bitcoin instantly.
It is designed with 2-of-2 multi signature with your emergency kit having both keys but your phone just one which significantly improves the security of your Bitcoin.
Electrum
With decentralized and redundant servers, you will never experience downtime using the Electrum. You can be online with a watch only function with your private keys safe as they are encrypted and never leave your computer. Your funds can be recovered from a secret phrase.
Bluewallet
Bluewallet is a leader in this echo system where you can also create multiple storages and then choose your fees when sending. You can easily bump, cancel or batch transactions which are executed “blazing” fast.
CONCLUSION
This list of online wallets features the most widely used and trusted ones in the Bitcoin echo system. For more Hot and Cold wallets go to the featured section of my linked in page to find the twitter thread on this blog post.
Feel free to contact me.
